Alfred Hitchcock and Daphne Du Maurier were on to something

The birds are getting their revenge:

Indonesia called an outbreak of bird flu in its teeming capital an epidemic on Wednesday as health and agricultural experts from around the world converged on Jakarta to help control the virus. Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari said the emergence of sporadic human cases of bird flu in recent months in and around different parts of Jakarta, home to 12 million people, warranted the epidemic tag. She was speaking before announcing that an initial local test on a five-year-old girl who died on Wednesday after suffering from bird flu symptoms was negative for the virus. 'This can be described as an epidemic. These (cases) will happen again as long as we cannot determine the source,' Supari told reporters, but she insisted it would be wrong to label it a 'frightening epidemic.' Four Indonesians are already confirmed to have died since July from the highly pathogenic H5N1 strain of bird flu, which has killed a total of 64 people in four Asian countries since late 2003 and has been found in birds in Russia and Europe.

The 14th Century had its rats; the 21st Century will have birds. I'm really hoping that the UN's only useful arm, WHO, is doing something, along with Western governments worldwide.